Thursday, 7 November 2013

FOREX inflow into Nigeria rises to N18.7 trillion in 2012 – CBN

Total foreign exchange inflow into the Nigerian economy in 2012 rose by 13.2 per cent to $119.02 billion (about N18.7trillion), the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has said.

The Central Bank said in its annual report for 2012 that the inflows were driven mostly by the huge transfers through the autonomous sources, which rose by 24.8 per cent to $72.23 billion (about N11.34trillion), represented 60.7 per cent of the total, while inflows through the CBN, comprising mainly oil and non-oil inflows, accounted for the balance.

A breakdown of the invisibles showed that over-the-counter purchases, OTCs,

And the domiciliary accounts amounted to $40.45 billion (about N6.35trillion) or 59 per cent and $27.96 billion (N4.39trillion), or 40.6 per cent of the total, respectively.

The report said total foreign exchange outflows through the economy, however, fell significantly by 26.6 per cent to $37.03 billion (N5.814trillion), compared with the level in 2011.

The CBN attributed the decline in the outflows to the reduction in wholesale Dutch Auction System, wDAS, utilisation by 33.1 per cent, adding that net inflows in 2012 was about $81.99 billion (about N12.9trillion), compared to $54.68 billion (about N8.59trillion) in the preceding year.

On corporate governance, the CBN report said the number of reported cases of fraud and forgery in the banking industry increased during the year, with about 4,527 cases involving the sum of N14.8 billion and $1.6 million (N251million), compared with 2,527 cases involving the sum of N29.5 billion at end-December 2011.

However, the report said the actual loss to banks fell by 26.1 per cent to N4.27 billion and $0.4 million (N62.8million), from N5.78 billion at end-December 2011.

“The cases of fraud were perpetrated mostly by outsiders and some bank staff, through such means as pilfering, theft, suppression and conversion of customers’ deposits, illegal funds transfer and fraudulent automated teller machine, ATM, Withdrawals,” the report said.

To be able to handle complaints by bank customers on services, the CBN said it commenced the implementation of its Complaints Management and

Resolution initiatives during the year, with a total of 999 complaints received from consumers against various financial institutions.

Complaints against the Deposit Money Banks, DMBs, the report noted, accounted for 961, or 96.3 per cent of the total, while other financial institutions, OFIs, accounted for the balance of 38 or 3.70 per cent.

With cumulative total number of consumer complaints in the CBN database at about 2,390 at end-December 2012, the report said only 470, or 19.7 per cent were resolved, while the remaining cases were at various stages of the resolution process.

“The cumulative total value of unverified claims arising from consumer complaints since the inception of the consumer complaints desk was N332.65 billion, while the value of verified claims stood at N13.9 billion. Actual refunds by the DMBs stood at N7.96 billion,” the bank said.